as the two tickets zero in on nine critical swing states, seven of which the candidates hit this weekend, new numbers give the president a fundraising edge over mitt romney for the first time in five months. while the race is still very close, polling shows mr. obama coming out of his convention with a bounce that mitt romney did not see coming out of tampa. pretty close consensus, but the president has a meaningful lead. >> the governor, once again, perhaps admitting that the president's health care law isn't all that bad. >> i say we're going to replace obama care. and i'm replacing it with my own plan. >> but you keep that as part of the federal plan. >> i'm not getting rid of all of health care reform, of course. mitt romney is getting hammered this morning for not nailing down specifics on his tax reform plan. >> you haven't specified where

you would cut loopholes in particular. can you give me an example of a loophole that you will close? >> i can tell you that people at the high end, high income taxpayers are going to have fewer deductions and exemptions. those numbers are going to come down. >> mitt romney on "meet the press." david gregory tried to nail him down. somebody said it was like nailing jell-o to the wall. he couldn't do it. >> let's bring in monday's political power panel, ruth marcus, keith boykins, susan dell percy. good morning to all of you. keith, let me start with you. the president appears to have gotten quite the post-convention bounce. he now has a 50% approval rating, unlike his net negative approval from before the convention. there it is right there. the president has also widened his lead to mitt romney over 50 poi

-- over five points. this is from his pollster. it says don't get too worked up about the latest polling. while some voters will feel a bit of a sugar-high from the conventions, the bax structure of the race has not changed significantly. the reality of the obama economy will reassert itself as the ultimate down fall of the obama presidency and mitt romney will win this race. keith, statement aside, how worried is team romney right now? >> i worked for mike dukakis in 1988. i remember what it's like the work for a losing candidate and you know you're going to lose. there's no guarantee that mitt romney is going to lose this race, but at the same time, these numbers are not good. they're trailing in the polls. they did not get a bounce out of the convention in tampa and the democrats did get one. they're not only trailing in the gallup troll, they're trailing in the reuters play. they're trailing in the rasmussen poll, which tends to favor republicans. they're 18 points behind in ohio and losing in the fundraising

game, $114 million to $111 million, outraised by obama for the first time since april. so these guys are really struggling to catch up and i think they're probably pretty nervous and worried. >> susan, you think they're more to the numbers than what we're seeing here? >> there is one substantial thing to the numbers. the president has barely broken 50. he's at 50 or 48, 49 which is very significant as an incumbent. so i don't think that president obama's team is going to take the next two months off. i think they have a lot of work to do. they know they have to keep doing it and so does mitt romney, although that should not come as any surprise that mitt romney has a lot of work to do. everyone knew this was going to be an extremely close election. i kind of laugh on the fundraising side because we have the democrats saying look at all the money the republicans are raising and we're going to be outspent. and we're so concerned. and now they're bragging that they're taking in more money. i don't know what their issues are. they seem never to be happy, though. >> let's talk about the

fundraising numbers if we can put them on the screen here. the president edged out mitt romney by $3 million in the month of august. the overwhelming majority of the president's donations coming from those who gave $250 or less. what can we make of these new fundraising numbers? >> i wouldn't make a lot of it, because of the obama camp was feeling great about its money situation, it wouldn't have asked the mayor of chicago, rahm emanuel, one of the great democratic party fundraisers of all time, to go help run the super-pac. there is still a pretty significant money advantage for the republicans when you lump in all the money together. and i agree with some of what susan was saying. there is a long way until election day and neither side should be measuring drapes at this point. we're dealing with a very small sliver of the electorate that hasn't made up its mind. it's not beginning to make up its mind probably until the point testify debates or after

that. we just don't know what's going to happen between now and then. rather be the obama camp right now maybe than the romney camp looking at the elect roral map, but everybody needs to stay a little calmer. >> settle down, settle down. >> i'm not saying obama is a shoo-in, but it's going to be a close race. right now the romney campaign has got to be sweating this out. they're not in a good position. >> we played some sound from mitt romney on "meet the press" yesterday where he talked about tax reform. his running mate paul ryan was asked something similar on abc's "this week." a little bit later, here was his answer. >> we want to have this debate with congress and we want to do this with the consent of the elected representatives of the people. >> why not give specifics? >> speaking politically this is a problem that the campaign has. is it going to be a choice between the two candidates or a

referendum on president obama? if it's going to be a referendum on the president, which is how i see them winning, if they are going to win, you really don't have to do specifics and you have to keep putting it all on the president. if you're going to make it about choice, you have to give specification. so they need to decide what direction they really want to go here. >> it appears as if the campaign has made that decision. it appears as if the campaign has decided we're not going to give specification. we are going to turn this into a referendum on the obama administration. >> well, here's why they don't want to give specifics. they've been very happy to give specifics on how much they would cut taxes. they want to cut everybody's taxes in addition to keeping the bush tax rates in place by 20% across the board. that's going to cost $5 trillion. what they don't want to tell you is how they will make up that $5 trillion so they don't lose more revenue. the reason for that is it's all sorts of things that people love, like their mortgage tax deduction and their charitable deduction. and their state and local tax deduction.

and these are painful. the arithmetic suggests, unlike what governor romney said yesterday, you can't just do that by going after high income people. and so details are pesky little things. >> when you start talking about the mortgage interest deduction, when you put that on the table, regardless of your political affiliation, that makes a lot of folks uncomfortable. >> which explains why people like us need to keep bang on them about it. >> keith, no surprise here that the obama folks jumped on this tax reform stuff pretty quickly yesterday. let me play a piece of sound from the president in florida and talk about it on the other side. >> you've got to do the math because when my opponents were asked about it today, they couldn't. it was like two plus one equals five. that's not bold leadership. that's bad math. >> the president's camp also out with a new ad hitting romney and ryan on medicare. obviously trying to turn the page from friday it's

disappointing jobs report. how effective can that strategy be for the president? keith? >> i think it's going to be very effective. i think the problem is you have these numbers that came out on friday, and people say they were disappointing, but on the other hand, there's actually some positive news in there. the unemployment rate did drop. it's the best august jobs report we've had in six years. over the course of eight years in the bush administration, we only had 5,000 jobs that were lost over all the august jobs reports over eight years and we had 96,000 jobs that were gained in one month from the obama administration. they're actually winning compared to the bush administration. but there's another argument here too about taxes, which is just that the romney campaign promised under paul ryan and said he will not duck the issues, will not kick the can down the road. that's what he said in his acceptance speech in tampa and this is exactly what they're doing. they're ducking the issues and kicking the can down the road. they're not consistent about their message and it's going to

hurt them in their campaign. >> you went so long, you've gotten the last word. >> filibustered. >> mission accomplished. >> imagine that. >> our monday power panel, many thanks to all of you. should note here that in a few minutes i'm going to talk with ezra klein about health care. thanks, guys. today, the u.s. formally handed over control of a prison housing thousands of taliban and terror suspects to the afghan government. this morning, the afghan flag was hoisted at the u.s.-run prison in kabul. its handover part of a deal as u.s. forces are prepared to get out of that region by 2014. this remains a hot dispute on the campaign trail, especially mitt romney, amid criticism from those who say he took no stance on the issue during his speech at the rnc. >> when you go through a speech, you don't go through a laundry list. you talk about the thicks that

are important. i find it interesting that people are interested in mentioning words in a speech, not policy. >> you weren't speaking to tens of thousands of people at the l. >> patrick murphy is a democrat, also the first iraq war veteran to serve in congress. patrick, good morning to you. let's note first of all what mitt romney did say at the american legion. this was a speech he gave on august 26th. he said in part "of course, we are still at war in afghanistan. we still have uniformed men and women in conflict risking their lives just as you once did. how deeply we appreciate their service. we honor them, we respect and love them. that's a 16-second quote out of about a 16-minute speech, but no specifics about policy there. why do you think there's been such a fear or reluctance to get specific? >> because then he has to take a

stand, craig, and he refuses to do that. it's like what john kerry said in his speech the other night. mitt romney has to debate himself before he actually debates barack obama in a couple weeks. the quote that you said where mitt romney said i talked in my speech about the things that were unimportant. there's 68,000 sons of american families that are fighting for us in afghanistan. that's not important to mitt romney? i mean, he wants to be commander in chief. not just commander in chief as president, but a wartime commander in chief, what barack obama has been and a true friend to our veterans. the contrast couldn't be more clear. >> peter rinehart addressed this fear of specifics in relation to the previous republican administration. he said romney has tried to hand the bush legacy the same way that mccain did it, by ignoring it. but in campaigns, ignoring your

weaknesses rarely makes them go away. is the entire party haunted by failure in regards to the war in afghanistan? >> well, i would say that with the iraq war -- i mean, you look at the iraq war, which was -- i was proud to serve, but it was an unnecessary war. we lost over 4,000 troops. we spent over $3 trillion in the iraq war. and afghanistan, we took our eye off the ball for so long. it wasn't until barack obama that became commander in chief where you triple the amount of forces, we smoked out bin laden, we finally brought him to justice, and now we're bringing our troops home. you open up your program, before this segment talking about the transition today in kabul, which is very important. the reason why, craig, that mitt romney doesn't want to talk about our veterans is buz he's been no friend. his record, he has not been a friend to veterans. you probably don't know this, but he cut veterans programs when he was governor of massachusetts 11%.

he wants to get rid of the veterans' preference for civil service jobs, when barack obama talked about veterans coming home from iraq and afghanistan, shouldn't fight for a job. well, mitt romney thinks they should. he thinks they shouldn't have a simple preference. you should have a little bit of an edge. mitt romney disagrees with that. >> we're going to to leave it right there. i wish we had more time for you this morning. >> good to be with you, though. >> do appreciate you. see you soon, sir. up next, as promised, mitt romney's new plans for health care. he says that he likes the part about health care for people with preexisting conditions. but who does his plan leave out in the cold? we'll talk to ezra klein about this. also, back to the negotiating table. public school officials working right now at this hour, they are trying to hammer out a deal to figure out this contract dispute in chicago. are you okay, babe?

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now he's trying to take the popular part, coverage of people with preexisting conditions, and not acknowledge the basis for it, whichbody in as obama care does. so he's picking and choosing the pieces he likes, but they don't fit. >> senator dick durbin of illinois, just one of the democrats pouncing of mitt romney's "meet the press" remarks that not all of the president's health care plan is bad. romney said he would support something like the provision for people with preexisting conditions. so who would be left out in the cold? 89 million americans, according to a "washington post" article out today. columnist for "the washington post" ezra klein joining me this morning to try to make sense of all of this. before we get to the 89 million,

let's break down the differences between the president's protection for those with preexisting conditions and mitt romney's. romney's allows protection with "continuous coverage." what's the distinction here? >> mitt romney's playing a little game here. he's saying he's got a preexisting conditions plan and he doesn't really. those words are the keey. he's saying if you have never lost insurance coverage, if you have been with full insurance coverage all the way through, an insurer can't discriminate against you for trying to change a plan. if you've had insurance all the way through, you're not gaming the system. the issue is that a lot of people for various reasons don't have uninterrupted insurance over time. 89 million people have lost insurance at some point over the last couple years and romney's plan wouldn't help any of them. so let's say a year ago or six months ago you lost a job and went just one month without health insurance because you couldn't pay for it. you're now not protected under

this preexisting conditions ban because you have not had this continuous coverage. that knocks almost a third of america, 89 million people, out of this kind of protection, and in general, folks who need the protection the most, the people who have had the trouble keeping insurance continue slism. >> 8 9 million. how do we get to that number? >> i want to say it was a keyser study, or urban institute. i would want to read the article to be sure. there's nothing contestable really in that number. people do have spells without insurance all the time. it's a very, very common thing. happens a lot due to insurance being locked in to people's jobs. if you don't have a solution for those folks, you don't have a solution. for the people who the most vulnerable and hardest hit. if you look at the plan mitt romney did in massachusetts, the way preexisting conditions are handled in that plan is the way they're handled in president obama's plan. it's a full ban on hitting

people with pre-existing conditions, no matter the status of their insurance coverage. the problem mitt romney is facing now is that if you try to keep that sole part of the plan, you need to begin building out the other sides of it. you need to really keep protection for pre-existing conditions. he would need to support something like what obama supports or what he supported in massachusetts, but that is an afterthought to the republican base. >> a poll found that 85% of responders back protections for those with preexisting conditions. either way, smart politics on romney's part to hield hghlight platform on this now? >> no, it doesn't seem like it's been smart politics, because at the moment it's highlighting that he doesn't have a platform. i don't think this is a particularly important hubbub in the course of this campaign, but so far, romney's moves on this kind of thing have been too clever and it's been that way over and over again, on taxes, on spending. there's a correct narrative

congealing that romney doesn't really have detailed policy, that he's not told people what he wants to do. fundamentally, in an election when you're giving them the information to make an informed choice about the future of the country, if people really come to believe that he's not giving them the information to make that choice, it becomes very hard for folks to explain. why are they voting for him if they won't tell what he's going to do? >> appreciate your time this morning. the taliban setting their sights on prince harry, threatening to kill or kidnap the third in line to the british throne. we'll go live for the latest on that. also a police officer in the president's motorcade dies after a serious highway crash. details on that in the news now. want to try to crack it? yeah, that's the way to do it! now we need a little bit more... a little bit more vanilla? this is great! [ male announcer ] at humana, we believe

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taliban has issued a disturbing threat. they claim they are determined to kill or kidnap britain's prince harry. he was recently deployed to t the helmand province. >> reporter: prince harry arrived on friday, three days later he's already receiving taliban threats. the spokesperson said that the prince was a gift brought to them in afghanistan. they say their priority is to abduct the prince, but if they can't, they say that they will kill him. they also say that they will use their spies within the afghan security forces, referring to the infiltration that has led to some insider attacks when afghan security forces have turned on their coalition partners. they also say that they will use rocket propelled grenades to target apache helicopters. the same helicopter prince harry is slated to start flying next

week. the british military obviously thought about these dangers before sending prince harry out for his second deployment in afghanistan, especially after his 2008 secret deployment was cut short for fears that he'd become a taliban target. craig? >> thanks much to you. here's a look at some of the other stories topping the news right now. a police officer who was part of president obama's motorcade was killed sunday when his motorcycle was hit by a pickup truck. the accident happened as the president was headed to a campaign event in south florida. the 55-year-old officer said to be a motorcycle cop for 18 years, was preparing to shut down the highway when he was struck by an oncoming truck. the white house says the president did not see the accident but his thoughts and prayers are with the officer's family. a home in texas has been quarantined after a woman contracted a serious respiratory disease believed to be the deadly hanta virus. the woman had been cleaning the

house as part of the reality tv show "hoarding: buried alive" when she developed the sickness. it is contracted by inhaling or ingesting parols of mice droppings, and it has a 40% mortality rate. the first weekend of the nfl football season wrapped up with a milestone for peyton manning. he threw his 400th career touchdown for his new team. only dan marino and brett favre have reached that 400 club. the new york jets also picked up a big win. they routed the buffalo bills yesterday. tim tebow did not take the field as part of that wildcat offense. he was part of the special teams play as well. tebow gained a total of 19 yards. and redskins rookie quarterback robert griffin iii gave quite the impressive display down in the bayou. a 40-32 win over the saints. griffin posting some remarkable numbers. he completed 19 of 26 passes for

320 yards and two touchdowns. washington, d.c. may finally have their franchise quarterback for the first time since joe theismann. and here's a lesson that a group of kids visiting yellow stone won't soon forget. check this out. a very close encount we are a bison. the children approached the bison to taunt him, apparently, encouraged by the adult who was shooting some video. eventually the large animal snaps and gallops forward, chasing a young boy who narrowly escapes. fortunately, and perhaps even surprisingly, no one was hurt. note to kids and their parents. bison not pets, and apparently not friendly either. huge fundraising numbers for both president obama and mitt romney last month, and that means millions and millions going toward campaign ads in the battleground states especially, but which states are the most in play? we'll talk about that. plus, school is out in chicago at this hour. thousands of teachers walking

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with a 50% annual cash bonus it's the card for people who like more cash. what's in your wallet? i usually say that. this president cannot tell us that you're better off today than when he took office. >> here in wisconsin, we're not better off under president obama. >> it was the romney campaign's first ad for swing state of wisconsin, it was released over the weekend. it comes on the heels of 15 state specific the republican nominee's campaign put out late last week, nine states each that could make or break mitt romney's road to that all-important 270 electoral votes. joining me now, andy crow, who is tracking the campaign for mother jones magazine. good morning to you. >> great to be here. >> the immediate takeaway here is if you live in a critical

battleground state and you're already sick of campaign ads, you ain't seen nothing yet. how important is it that the romney campaign is advertising in wisconsin? >> it shows that they are willing to invest millions of dollars in a state that president obama won in 2008 and really is considered a purple state that leans blue. the romney campaign, though, has planted their flag there on the running ads, specifically tailored to industry in wisconsin and creating jobs in wisconsin and they are going to fight the obama campaign tooth and nail for a state that at the beginning of this campaign no one really thought was going to be in play. >> another prize in the battleground and an electoral map in ohio. we all know that no republican has ever won the white house without winning ohio. a six-point lead in the buckeye state. how big -- or perhaps is ohio the biggest of the must-wins for mitt romney? >> it's ohio or florida. if president obama wins ohio and wins florida, this thing is

over. if president obama wins either ohio or florida, the road to 270 electoral votes for mitt romney is incredibly narrow. he is walking the tight rope, threading the needle, if you will, to get there. that is why you're seeing this massive barrage, carpet bombing of ads from mitt romney, because he is either tied or behind in eight of these nine battleground states. north carolina is the one exception. he's got cash in his war chest, mitt romney does, and he is unloading it in all of these states here. >> i want to talk to you about a few of the other states, few of the other nine states. you mentioned north carolina. let's also talk about virginia as well. the president was able to turn both of those states for years ago. you mentioned that he's down -- president obama down in north carolina. how is he looking in virginia? and how is he looking also out west in colorado and nevada? >> well, he is -- it's a dead heat in virginia. and you have a very tough senate

race there with tim king and george allen coming into play. in virginia, we're seeing a lot of this outside money and this dark money getting dumped that is keeping this state so tight. in colorado, this is a state where obama has had a lot of success and he's got a slight edge out there right now. what you're going to see if all these states is president obama's campaign and the democrats launching just as many ads and going toe-to-toe with romney and the republicans because they can't afford to let the republicans spend all this money unanswered. >> andy kroll, thank you. the latest gallup daily tracking poll showing president obama opening up a five-point lead over mitt romney, his biggest since july. it is outside the margin of error now. that lead, 49% to 44%. there are still, according to the poll, 7% undecided. so who are these undecided people and when will they finally make up their minds?

journalist linda killian is a senior scholar from the wid roo wilson foundation. it seems as if this race may be decided by about 19 people in iowa and ohio. is this going to come down to purely the debates? >> it is a few more than 19, but yes. it is the swing voters. it's going to come out -- turn out, obviously, of the bases are important. but the four states that i talk about in the swing vote, ohio, new hampshire, colorado, and virginia, you just talked about a couple of them. they are incredibly key. and the kind of voters that haven't made up their minds yet are the voters i talk about. young voters in colorado. under 35, registered as independent in the higher percentage in any other age

group. they are surprisingly persuadable this time around. they turned out in very high numbers for obama last time around. but they are struggling economically. america-first democrat, conservative male, working class and middle class democrats, incredibly key in ohio. the anti-union efforts in ohio by republicans, you heard -- this is why you heard so much about the auto bailout at the democratic convention, and why the obama campaign is focusing on these voters. suburban swing voters, starbucks moms and dads, i call them, in virginia, in states like that. in new hampshire. these voters voted for obama last time around and they're not sure, they're on the fence. they're waiting for the debates. they want a specific plan. >> the latest polling indicates that both candidates are struggling among independents.

but obama has a six-point gap in favorable, unfavorable ratings, while romney has a 17-point gap. is that an ominous sign for governor romney? >> well, it's not good, that's for sure. romney can only win, obviously, if he persuades people who voted for obama last time around. and these swing voters, he has to swing them. and they have not made up their minds. the conventions were all about rallying the base. these voters felt left out at the conventions. both campaigns, their operatives have told reporters they're not that interested in talking about specifics. they don't think it matters. they don't think voters pay attention. but voters do pay attention. and what i heard over and over from swing voters is they want specifics. they want a plan, and details about how we're going to fix this economy. >> linda killian, author of "the swing vote." thank you so much for that

insight. do appreciate your time. >> thank you for having me. let's switch gears here for a second. there's some big developing news in chicago right now. negotiations are back under way there as 25,000 teachers walked off the job this morning after failing overnight to reach a contract deal with the district. kevin is live with the latest. good morning to you, sir. >> hi, craig. >> how many attempts have been made to cut a deal? >> reporter: you're asking about a deal. they were at the table the last 45 minutes or so. we have heard so many times that they're close to a deal. last night very late in the evening, the union head sharon lewis said they were not as close as a lot of people on the

other side were telling us. i happen to be with this fifth grade teacher right now, john cusack. what are you hearing? >> well, out on the picket line, i haven't heard anything from downtown. i have heard from parents. mostly i've heard parents support us. they know we care for their children and get to know their children well. they know we have their children's best interest at heart. >> mayor rahm emanuel, this is a big test of his young leadership here in the city of chicago. they are very interested in having the labor vote behind them. do you think that what mayor rahm emanuel said last night that this is not a money issue and it is a strike by choice? would you agree with the way he said that? >> the issue around strike by choice, sadly, chicago public school teachers aren't involved in much of this decision making that goes on in our school system, so we have few choices. we would like to be, for example, we would like to be

involved when they put 41 kids in our classrooms. right here, we had one class with 41 kids, another class with 38. >> so class sizes an issue? >> parents say our strike is good for kids and we say 41 kids per class are not good for kids. wraparound social services to deal with the kids whose families are experiencing epidemic violence in the city, that's not good for kids. >> are you going to be out here a long time? >> we hope not. i love my fifth graders. i want to get back in. there's a lot of work to do and that's where we want to be. the shortest strike was one day. the longest was 19. and we're ready to do what it takes because we think this is a social justice issue and a civil rights issue. it's not about us. it's not about pay and benefits. it's about other issues. >> this is the first day of the strike. the negotiating teams are looking at each other across the table right now and we'll bring you any update that we find. >> what does all of this mean for the kids there? are they just going to be in the streets or what? >> well this is the third

largest school district in the nation. some 400,000 children. 144 schools like this one are actually open for a half day today. they open from 8:00 until 12:00. kids are getting breakfast and lunch. many kids need that. a lot of the chicago public schools provide that every day anyway. at this particular school, they have told us that they were prepared for upwards of a thousand children to come in. they've only had 60 arrive here so far, so other working parents have made plans for their kids. >> thank you, sir. do appreciate it. conventional wisdom suggests president obama should be trailing in polls but he's not. we'll explain why he's still winning. plus, 11 years since the 9/11 terror attacks. is this country any safer now than it was then? someone happy.♪ it's so important to make someone happy.♪ ♪make just one heart to heart you - you sing to♪

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what a difference a few weeks can make in a presidential campaign. we have talked a lot this hour about the gallup daily tracking poll. it shows president obama opening up a five-point lead over mitt romney. his biggest lead since july outside the margin of error. the same author of this "newsweek" road cover has written a new article. it's titled "why obama is winning" and it would seem to indicate the upcoming debates will be critical. the presidential debates are set for october 3rd, 16th, and 22nd. and the lone vice presidential debate will be happening on october 11th. so why might president obama be winning? joining me now, nbc news senior political editor mark murray. i want to go back to this article here, this newsweek article. ferguson writes the economy is in the doldrums. yet the incumbent is ahead in

the polls. according to a huge body of research by political scientists, which is not supposed to happen what. do you think happens with debates? does this now mean that mitt romney is going to have to be even more aggressive in the debates than perhaps he would have been? >> i think so. it almost uses a moment to change the contours of this race. we're starting to run out of moments for mitt romney to be able to change how this race is developing. we, of course, went into his vice presidential pick. not much of a balance until after mitt romney picked paul ryan. then went went into the two conventions. according to the data we have now, and it's not completely conclusive, but it appears president obama is the one with a bounce, not mitt romney. given that, the next big moment will occur on october 3rd and that is that economic focus debate in colorado. this is probably mitt romney's next, if not maybe final chance to change the narrative of this campaign. >> we spend a lot of time talking about the presidential

debates. i believe the vice presidential debates are going to be must-see television indeed. >> oh, absolutely. and they were four years ago when you had joe biden versus sarah palin. it's a little bit of a different narrative this time around, joe biden versus paul ryan. but there are two very interesting, two very smart vice presidential folks at that debate and that will be must-watch tv. the importance of this first debate is very, very important. that's why october 3rd, the stakes will be higher than the other ones. >> thank you for your time. president obama gets a lift in his re-election campaign. time now for the sidebar. watch what happened when he walked into a pizza place in florida yesterday. >> everybody look at these guys. if i eat your pizza, will i look like that? >> come on, man.

>> scott van duzer, registered republican, but he voted for mr. obama in 2008. he talked to my colleague chris jansing a short time ago about that bear hug. >> when he came in, he busted through my front door and said where's scott? from that moment on, it seemed like he was a long lost friend, and it was amazing. great connection. he came over, gave me a hug and that's when the bear hug happened. like i said, i was just so caught up in the moment, it was unbelievable. and if you can't beat him, join him. president obama jumped on the birther bandwagon after meeting a hawaiian-born boy at a sports bar this weekend. >> are you born in hawaii? do you have a birth certificate? >> it was an interesting weekend on the campaign trail for the vice president as well. hanging with bikers at a diner in ohio. according to the campaign, the bikers were part of a group

called the shadow men. the associated press was able to snap a picture, but so far, we have not been able to get our hands on any video. democrats getting a compliment from an unlikely source today as well. the donald. >> i also think michele obama did a very good job. there were a lot of very good jobs, but i think the democrats had more appropriate people to the party than the republicans did. >> donald trump was supposed to speak at the republican convention but got bumped from the lineup after monday's festivities were canceled because of hurricane isaac. empty nesters and boomers are a big growth market for the cruise line industry. the aarp has great tips on staying healthy on the high seas, avoid seasickness, have your physician prescribe anti-nausea medication before leaving. the sun is stronger at sea, use a high spf sun block and avoid stomach bugs by washing hands

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. tomorrow hands down the most

emotionally charged day on our national calendar, especially for survivors and families of 9/11 victims. this year many hope the national museum honoring the dead would be opened at ground zero, but it's been delayed once again by political squabbling. the campaigns are squabbling over who is the bigger threat to national security. joining me nbc news terrorism analyst evan coleman. thank you so much for being with me this morning. let's -- i'll start with the question that's always asked this time of year, versus 11 years ago, are we safer today? >> yeah. i think there's no doubt we are. if you look at the number of al qaeda leaders who have been killed or captured over the last decade plus now, you're really talking ate amazing subsess, including just in the past four or five years alone. aside from osama bin laden, all of al qaeda's senior hierarchy in afghanistan and pakistan has been wiped out. the threat is still there. al qaeda is not just an organization, it's an ideology and there are people out there, including right here in the u.s., who have taken on this

ideology and willing to act even fit means acting on their own. >> you mentioned bin laden, one of the navy s.e.a.l.s in on the raid that killed the mastermind behind 9/11, wrote a book about it, on "60 minutes" last night. let's take a look at what he said. >> this operation was one of the most significant operations in u.s. history, and it's something that i believe deserves to be told right and deserves to go in a book and stand for itself. >> you're in disguise as we do this interview today and i wonder why? >> the focus shouldn't be on me. the focus should be on the book. i'm not trying to be special or a hero or anything. i'm trying to tell the bigger story. >> but you're in disguise for your own security? >> yeah. absolutely. >> tell me about that? what concerns you? >> you know, the enemy has a long memory. >> how concerned should we be about that? >> look, we should, because al qaeda is still out there. we've done tremendous damage to them. there are still franchises in

yemen, north africa, and somalia and these guys keep waiting for an opportunity when we're not looking and they're continually trying to come up with plots to get into the united states and what's more, is that they're not just looking for small attacks, they are looking to cause catastrophic damage to the united states' economy and u.s. in general. that's something we have to keep in mind. is the threat there? yeah, it's there. a lot less than what it was but it's there and we have to remain vigilant. >> evan coleman, nbc terrorism analyst, thank you for your insight. >> that's going to wrap things up for me. stay with msnbc tomorrow for special coverage of the 9/11 terror attacks. "now with alex wagner" is coming up. >> governor mitt romney's map quest while president obama gets polling and fund-raising bumps team romney concedes a narrowing path to the white house. we will crunch numbers with peter hart, plus the romney ticket spends the weekend focusing on god while doing a loop de loop on budget policy. is this election still just

about the economy? and we're going inside the victory lap. we'll ask slate's sasha issenberg about his book and the science of winning in a campaign. all of that when "now" starts in a mere 180 seconds. with the spark cash card from capital one, sven's home security gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! how does this thing work? oh, i like it! [ garth ] sven's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! woo-hoo!!! so that's ten security gators, right? put them on my spark card! why settle for less? testing hot tar... great businesses deserve the most rewards! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? here's your invoice. what's in your wallet? hor get the yard ready for cool energy bill weather?size? the answer? a lot less. the great american fix-up is going on now... ...with new projects every week and big savings every day. so you can do what needs to be done.

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oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. i'm also a survivor of ovarian a writand uterine cancers. i even wrote a play about that. my symptoms were a pain in my abdomen and periods that were heavier and longer than usual for me.